James's Chance
by And Your Pointe Is
Summary: Lily finally decides to give James a chance.


Okay. It's only my second fic, so don't go yelling at me now. I know it's not that good, I really do. But Sara insisted, and you all know what happens when you refuse to acknowledge Sara's requests. I had actually planned something quite different when I first set out to write this. But then, who can blame me? Blame the chocolate.  
  
Lily Evans was not happy. She sat in the crowded common room, isolated in a far-off corner. Pondering, as she usually did, the bastard that was James Potter. Not that she meant to ponder about him, of course. She hated him. It was a truth. In fact, she detested the merest glance she caught him sending her. There was no way possible that her thoughts could ever willingly linger on that wretched creep, other than the fact that she disgusted him. Right?  
  
Right. No other plausible explanation for the way her gaze seemed to linger on his messy hair when she thought he wasn't looking, or for the way she trembled as she felt his presence enter a room. The only cause imaginable for her reaction to him had to be the fact that she hated him. Oh, but she had a reason for her aversion towards him. He made her feel something she had never felt before. James Potter made her, Lily Evans, feel out of control. And that was not a feeling that Lily enjoyed. Lily prided herself on her level-headedness in every situation she faced. And there was no way in heck that a git like James Potter was going to jeopardize her sense of calm, her control. No way.  
  
He wouldn't really be interested in her, anyway. He and his little gang, the Marauders, played with girl's hearts. They dated for mere days before severing relationships. No, James Potter was definitely not her type. He was an arrogant git who believed he could get his way with any girl he bloody pleased before breaking her heart. Well, he wouldn't get Lily Evans. He certainly would not make her loose her control.  
  
And yet, as she felt him shoot a fleeting glance across the common room, directed towards her, she could not help but think that maybe lack of control was a good thing. Something you sacrificed to be with your true love..... True LOVE?! Had she really just thought about JAMES POTTER as her TRUE LOVE?! How utterly revolting!  
  
Although, how could she deny the look he had just sent her? Those hazel eyes, so filled with longing and everything she could possibly ever want. Stop it, Lily. She silently chastised herself. Obviously staying confined within the common room had taken its toll on her. Yes, that was it. What she needed was a good, brisk walk around the castle, to clear her head of the nonsense that she thought about James Potter. Who knows? She was a prefect, after all. She might even be able to dish out a few detentions before dinner.  
  
Collecting her books, she deposited them on an empty table near her chair, and quickly made her way out of the portrait hole. Little did she know of the stare that followed her exit, made by her one true nemesis, James Potter.  
  
"Awwwwww! How adorable!" cooed Sirius Black in mocking voice to his friend, James Potter.  
  
"Could our ickle Jamsie-poo have the hots for a certain red-head?"  
  
James tore his gaze away from that portrait hole that Evans had just gone through to glare at Sirius.  
  
"I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd keep your comments to yourself, Black." James snapped at him.  
  
"What's the matter, widdle Jamsie? Is the mean she-devil not playing nice- nice with James again?" retorted Sirius with a care-free grin.  
  
"Sirius...."  
  
"Aww, now Jamesie, I'm sure little Evans would just absolutely adore you if you asked her to play with you..."  
  
"Don't go there, Sirius!"  
  
"James! Didn't your mummy ever teach you manners? It's not nice to make threats. Maybe that's why Evans won't play with you...."  
  
"Sirius!" James roared while jumping up, making everyone in the common room stare.  
  
"Er..." he said as he sunk back onto his chair with embarrassment.  
  
"Just leave it Sirius, okay?"  
  
"Don't worry, mate." said Sirius, with a look of dead seriousness (no pun intended) plastered on his face.  
  
"A girl who refuses you, not to mention sticks up for Snivellus like she did at the lake yesterday must be off her rocker."  
  
James blushed.  
  
"She hasn't exactly refused to go out with me, Sirius..."  
  
"No," Sirius cut James off.  
  
"She just professed her odium towards you for everyone at the school to hear after the Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL yesterday."  
  
"Sirius..." James started dejectedly.  
  
"And I quote: '...you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter.'"  
  
"Yes, but..."  
  
"Or how about this: 'I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid!'"  
  
"Do I really need to be reminded, Sirius? Please, can't we just..."  
  
"'I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK!'"  
  
"That's it. I'm leaving." James said, shooting Sirius a disgusted look.  
  
Sirius appeared unfazed by this.  
  
"Suit yourself, mate. If I were you, though, I would just forget about Evans. She's not really a proper girl. Not even really that pretty. Why don't you find yourself a nice, abiding blonde? I heard that Alice just broke up with Frank again. As for me, I'm off to court myself Mindy Baxter."  
  
Sirius got up and began to fight his way through the common room, towards the aforementioned Mindy.  
  
How unaware he was of the fact that Lily had just walked back into the common room, much refreshed after doling out punishment to a group of third- years who were attempting to set-off a dung-bomb on the second floor.  
  
And she just happened to have over-heard Sirius's comment about her not being a proper girl. A sob escaped her lips.  
  
James turned towards her long enough to catch a glimpse of the tears streaming rivulets down her face, as she pushed herself out through the portrait hole once again.  
  
"Curse you, Sirius." James muttered vehemently under his breath as he pushed after Evans.  
  
She was stunned. She knew that one couldn't be liked by everyone, and that comments like the one made by Sirius shouldn't be taken literally. And yet, here she was, running goodness knows where like a madwoman because Sirius had deemed her 'not a proper girl'.  
  
Not a proper girl? Her? Is that what everyone really thought?  
  
'Oh, there goes Lily Evans' she could practically hear her fellow year- mates whispering to one another. 'She doesn't have any friends, probably due to the fact that she's a know it all. She's not really pretty, not a proper girl, you know.'  
  
Who knew a stupid, trivial comment could hurt so much?  
  
"Evans!" a breathless voice called after her.  
  
"Stop for a second, please?"  
  
She knew that voice. It was the voice of the last person she wanted to see. More so now, than ever. Couldn't he just leave her alone?  
  
Did the prat really feel the need to taunt her further?  
  
His calls behind her only fueled her desire to get away. She sprinted haphazardly down corridors and staircases, never turning around to stare at her pursuer.  
  
Boy, could she run fast, thought James as he chased after Evans. He wiped sweat off his brow.  
  
Was she ever going to stop? He wondered desperately. He, even after 5 years of quidditch practices for the Gryffindor house team, wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to keep this mad dash up. And then they arrived at a dead end.  
  
Lily couldn't believe that she would have to give up the chase. She faced a wall, a dead end. Funny. She hadn't thought that there could be a dead end within Hogwarts castle. You learned new things every day, she thought as she watched him approach. He trotted up to her, gasping desperately for breath and clutching his side.  
  
"You can sure run fast when you want to, Evans." James wheezed.  
  
"What do you want Potter?" asked Lily icily as she wiped the tears that had continued to stream down her face.  
  
"I...." James paused for a moment, as if thinking things over.  
  
"I guess I wanted to apologize for what Sirius said earlier. I'm sure he didn't mean it, Evans. Sometimes the great prat goes and blabs things before he has time to really think about what he's saying."  
  
"I'm sure he does." Lily replied.  
  
"And, Evans? I know that you don't really like me and all..."  
  
Lily gave a derisive snort at this  
  
"...but for what it's worth, I think you're the most wonderful girl in the world." James finished awkwardly, staring down at the floor the entire time.  
  
Well, Lily was a bit taken aback at this. But she should have known. James had been obsessively following her every move since 1st year. He even went so far as to go out with Tamara Betten, one of her dorm-mates, just so he could figure out what elective classes Lily was taking in her third year. She really should have expected it. He'd asked her out over 100 times already, after all.  
  
She shouldn't have been affected the way she was at his words, though. She began to tremble, and she slid herself down to the floor.  
  
James crouched down beside her, peering into her eyes with concern.  
  
"You all right, Evans?" he asked, obviously worried.  
  
She smiled a little then, appreciative of his apprehension over her welfare. And as she looked up into those hazel eyes, with a lock of his messy hair falling into his face, Lily Evans smiled at James Potter.  
  
It was at that moment that Lily finally decided to give up the chase. She would allow James to have his chance.  
  
And as their eyes met, Lily Evans held out her hand.  
  
"It's Lily, actually."  
  
And James Potter took it. 


End file.
